The Italian far right was hoping for a historic victory on Saturday, on the eve of crucial legislative elections which could make Giorgia Meloni the first leader of a post-fascist party to lead the government of a founding country of the European Community.
The leaders of the main political parties threw their last strength into the final campaign meetings on Friday, with political silence imposed on all candidates from 10 p.m. until the polls closed on Sunday.
In Naples, Giorgia Meloni, head of Fratelli (Fdl) d’Italia given nearly 25% in the voting intentions, launched a thunderous: “I am a patriot! “.
But it was above all his ally Matteo Salvini, head of the League (anti-immigrants), who occupied the media space by demanding “apologies or the resignation” of Ursula von der Leyen. He criticizes the President of the European Commission for having brandished Thursday in the United States the threat of sanctions in the event of attacks on the democratic principles of the European Union by Italy.
Polls being banned in the two weeks preceding the election, the latest surveys credited FdI with 24 to 25% of voting intentions, ahead of the Democratic Party (PD, center left) between 21 and 22%. This is followed by the 5 Star Movement (ex-antisystem) with 13 to 15%, the League with 12%, Forza Italia with 8%.
“I am concerned that the polls are giving the right wing a winner, especially Giorgia Meloni, because from what she said on women’s rights, on youth rights, on rights in general, I foresee a return back at least fifty years,” Maria Tasca, 27, a Sicilian student, told AFP-TV.
“I am not going to vote tomorrow, because in my opinion today there are not the right people to govern. In the future, if there is someone worthwhile, I will go and vote for him”, assures Pasquale Pestrichella, a young storekeeper from Bari.
Abstention could exceed 30% in this election, according to analysts, a high figure for Italy.
On the Brussels radar
Brussels is following this election closely, in particular on the sensitive issue of sanctions against Moscow and on the possible tensions that could arise between the Commission and an ultra-conservative and sovereignist government.
Solidarity with NATO since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine under the leadership of Mario Draghi, Rome has traditionally maintained cordial relations with Moscow.
Silvio Berlusconi, the third partner of the conservative coalition with Forza Italia, raised the controversy by declaring Thursday evening that Vladimir Putin had been “pushed” by his people to invade Ukraine.
When he was head of government, Berlusconi befriended the Russian president, whom he received personally in his villa in Sardinia and with whom he traveled to Crimea after the annexation of this Ukrainian peninsula by Russia in 2014. Faced with the outcry caused by his last remarks, he reaffirmed on Friday his “absolute loyalty” to NATO and the EU.
Matteo Salvini is pushing for an easing of sanctions against Moscow, which he considers ineffective and counterproductive, while deeming the invasion of Ukraine “unjustifiable”.
Atlanticist, Giorgia Meloni, on the other hand, has taken clear positions in favor of support for Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and the sending of arms to kyiv.
Relations with the EU will also be closely scrutinized, Ms. Meloni alternating promises of cooperation with veiled threats.
“We want a strong, serious and respected Italy on the international scene,” she warns.
The right/extreme right coalition promises to keep its European commitments. Giorgia Meloni has officially buried her plan to get Italy out of the euro, but concerns persist, especially as she has just reiterated her support for the Hungarian regime led by the ultra-nationalist Viktor Orban.
She calls for the renegotiation of the Italian post-COVID recovery plan, financed to the tune of nearly 200 billion euros by Europe, to take into account the spike in energy costs in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
However, the disbursement of funds is linked to a series of reforms whose implementation was scrupulously respected by the outgoing government of Mario Draghi and which now seem to be compromised.
For Meloni, “the party is over”, Italy “will begin to defend its national interests as the others do”.